


On the Clock

by VampirePaladin



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Co-workers, Gen, Post-Sector 1 Reactor Bombing, Spoilers for Before Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 20:04:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15937322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin





	On the Clock

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



The Turks.

The name was whispered by everyone from Shinra employees to the public to the people that would get the stupid idea that they could stand up to Shinra. They did everything: intelligence, espionage, torture, making problems disappear. They were the ones that got their hands dirty in the dark shadows so that Shinra could keep something of the good image that they had in the public.

Reno was one of those Turks. He got the job done. People assumed that his unkempt appearance indicated someone that didn’t do a good job. This wasn’t true. Reno did a very good job, but he also remembered that it was just a job. He’d stayed on in the Turks after a large portion of their members left, well he hoped that they had just left. It was more likely that they’d died after the battle, but it was better to think of them as having left. It meant that they might be alive somewhere under new identities and living new lives. Rude had stayed on. He didn’t know if Cissnei was going to stay after the rescue mission for Zack Fair and his traveling companion had failed completely. He was pretty sure that Cissnei was in love with Zack, who was in love with that Ancient. Romance gossip was a thing amongst the Turks when they were bored.

It was funny, not long ago Reno had been captured by the Shinra military and held captive during the Zirconiade incident. Now that there was a whole new group calling themselves AVALANCHE the few remaining Turks were official back in Shinra’s good graces. 

“You’re almost late,” Reno said to Rude as his coworker approached. They were both waiting at the punch clock. There were only five minutes to go until they could punch out.

“There are reports from the Sector 1 Reactor bombing,” Rude said. AVALANCHE had claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was funny because the original AVALANCHE was now supposed to be defunct. Reno had fought AVALANCHE often enough and he knew that they weren’t going to be causing Shinra any more problems. It meant that this was a copycat group. At least the copycat group looked to be smaller, with less training, and they did seem to be a touch less ruthless than the original AVALANCHE had been.

“Anything interesting?” Reno asked. He hadn’t been involved in gathering information about the bombing, he’d had other work to do. They just didn’t have enough people to do all the work that they needed to get done. He was also now the unofficial second in command ever since Tseng had taken charge.

“The description of one. It matches the companion of Zack Fair. He fought with a large sword,” Rude said.

They had found the bullet riddled corpse of Zack Fair. It was easy after the fact once they had access to the military’s reports. Zack had been alone, and his sword had been nowhere to be found. There were drag marks from someone pulling it across the dirt and towards Midgar. The tracks had been followed but once they made it inside the walls and into the slums it was impossible to track them any further. If they had been just a little faster they could have extracted Zack and the other man before the military had found them.

“Huh,” was all Reno said about that. “Did you hear about any new candidates?” Reno asked. He was hoping that there might be some good looking women in the group.

“The most likely candidate is named Elena. She’s her sister,” Rude said.

Reno didn’t need any clarification. It wasn’t the first time Elena had encountered the Turks. She had been kidnapped and held hostage by AVALANCHE. Her older sister, a blonde woman, great shot with a handgun, had been one of the Turks to go into the rescue mission of her younger sister. She had chosen her preferred weapon as her codename: Gun. 

“Gun will kill us if we let her baby sister get killed,” Reno complained. Of course, Gun was dead, she had to be, just like the others that had faced Zirconiade. His annoyance covered up that he still stung from loosing so many of his coworkers all at once.

Rude made a sound in the back of his throat that Reno knew meant that he agreed with him. They’d been working together so long that Reno could translate Rude’s body language and the sounds he made very easily.

“I’m supposed to be getting that Cetra tomorrow. I don’t know why we didn’t go after her sooner, I mean we’ve always known where she is. Why go for these half-hearted capture attempts?” Reno asked, even though he already knew the reason for the change. The Turks were under a close eye right now, they couldn’t afford not to see results.

The clock ticked to five o’clock. Reno didn’t wait. He typed in his code and then put his finger on the scanner. He waited a few moments for it to beep and the light to turn green, showing that he’d punched out of work for the day. He stepped aside and let Rude do the same thing.

“Let’s go get drunk. There is a new place in Sector 8 that I want to try,” Reno said as he led the way to the elevator, his keycard in hand so that he could get out of the building. Rude followed him. They didn’t even talk about work or what was going to happen the following day.

They were the Turks.

They were the most feared group in Shinra, spoken of in hushed tones with wary looks over shoulders.

At least they were until it was time to punch out for the day. From that point on they were Reno and Rude. It didn’t matter if Shinra was falling down around them and Sephiroth had returned in a pink floral dress and was mooning the president. 

Once they were punched out they didn’t care about Shinra, the Turks, or AVALANCHE. They were just two coworkers going to get drunk.


End file.
